May 2, 2011: With diplomatic help from Egypt, the feuding Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached a surprise agreement to end four years of feuding and form a national unity government. One result of Cairo's successful mediation will be re-opening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Hamas-controlled Gaza. The crossing has been closed nearly continuously since Hamas gained control of the entire Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi declared that the Rafah border checkpoint would be permanently opened "to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people." Yesterday Egpytian foreign ministry spokeswoman Menha Bakhoum told the Egyptian "Al-Ahram" newspaper that Egyptians considered the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip "disgraceful."

Egypt's decision is a security issue for Israel. When the Rafah crossing is re-opened, it will be the biggest breach in the Gaza blockade imposed by Israel and backed by the West since 2007. The closure of the border has made it difficult for Hamas to import weapons for use against Israel.

Could the European Union provide monitoring that would ease Israel's security concerns? There would be a precedent for the Rafah crossing. When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, supervision of the Rafah crossing was given to the Palestinian Authority. The "European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah" was then established to monitor Egyptian and Palestinian management of the crossing, providing Israel remote video surveillance. However, Israel ordered the crossing closed for security reasons in June 2006 and the Egyptians permanently sealed the border one year later.

The Palestinian side has no objections to re-establishing EU monitoring of the border crossing. "We don't mind if the Europeans are involved as long as the Egyptian side agrees to this," Ahmad Yousef, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said yesterday. He added: "The only objection we have is to Israeli involvement. This is an agreement between Palestinians and the Egyptians."

Following the July 2006 Israeli deployment in southern Lebanon, the European Union agreed to provide half the troops needed for the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. Europe will become more involved in Middle East affairs in the future and will eventually establish its own independent military force in the region.

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